Carotid plaque
The thickness of your neck artery walls, and any plaque in them.
Ultrasound
20 min
Heart & vessels
Sample reading
Ages 40–49
0.62
mm IMT
Optimal < 0.7
Thickened 0.7–0.9
High > 0.9
Illustrative ranges. Your physician sets yours.
(01) How it’s done
On the day
A radiologist scans both carotid arteries in your neck with ultrasound while you lie still for about twenty minutes.
We measure the thickness of the artery wall and look for any plaque, then save the images so the next scan can be compared side by side.
(02) Why it matters
What it tells us
Plaque you can see is the clearest early sign of arterial disease, often ten or twenty years before any symptom.
Finding none is reassuring. Finding some changes the conversation: it usually means treating cholesterol and blood pressure to tighter targets.
(03) Same system
Heart & vessels
Measured on the same day, read by the same physician.
